Iron Mountain ski jump

Monday, July 27, 2015

WHEN WINTER TURNS TO SPRING

A
long time ago, when I was trying to get started as a writer, as well as
pastoring, I pitched a book idea to a national publisher. They liked the idea
and asked me to write the manuscript and send it to them. As I worked on it, I realized
it wasn’t really a book, more like one chapter in a book, or a magazine
article. I knew I could fluff it up, write ten more chapters that said the same
thing as the first, just different words, but I have bought and read too many
books like that. I always feel cheated when I have paid for a whole book and
only gotten the same chapter ten times.

So
I told the publishers. They were impressed. They said they often got one-chapter
manuscripts and were happy to meet an author who understood the problem before
they had to read the whole manuscript. They told me that they liked my writing,
so if I got any more ideas that were really a book, they would be glad to
publish me.

The
problem with writing was the pastoring. I was never able to shirk on that. If someone
needed my time, that was my first priority. There was never much time left over
for writing. Until I retired.

So
for a long time, I have written in this blog almost every day. But then I went
to AZ to be part of the memorial service for my best friend from my high school
class. I knew I would not blog during that time because I would be pastoring
again.

Something
changed in that process. Having a break from blogging made me see it
differently. When I got home, I realized that I was at the same point I had
been when I pitched that book idea so long ago. I had one good idea, but if I continue,
I’m not blowing up a new balloon, just blowing more air into the old one. I am
out of stories. I could tell the same ones over, maybe in different words, but
that would not be fair to you.

I’m
not saying I won’t post anymore. It might be worthwhile to check Christ In
Winter once in a while. But I’m no longer in “the place of winter.” In my old
age, I am at a point of spring. We’ll see if anything buds and grows.

John
Robert McFarland

johnrobertmcfarland@gmail.com

I
started this blog several years ago, when we followed the grandchildren to the “place
of winter,” Iron Mountain, in Michigan’s Upper Peninsula [The UP]. I put that
in the sub-title, Reflections on Faith from a Place of Winter for the
Years of Winter, where life is defined by winter even in the summer! [This
phrase is explained in the post for March 20, 2014.]